DeBrincat scores twice, Blackhawks defeat Stars

CHICAGO -- Alex DeBrincat scored his 30th and 31st goals of the season, and the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Dallas Stars 4-2 at United Center on Sunday.

DeBrincat has scored eight goals during an NHL career-high six-game goal streak and 10 points (eight goals, two assists) during a seven-game point streak.
"A lot of times I'm not getting that last one or even that first one, but you know I'll take them," DeBrincat said. "Sometimes they're just finding the back of the net and sometimes they don't. I just got to keep improving all of the other areas of my game as well."
Brandon Hagel had a goal and an assist, and Kevin Lankinen made 37 saves for the Blackhawks (24-25-6), who have won two straight after going 0-5-1 in their previous six games.
Denis Gurianov and Mark Pysyk scored, and Anton Khudobin made 21 saves for the Stars (22-19-14).
Chicago and Dallas have been eliminated from contention for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Stars were eliminated Saturday when the Nashville Predators clinched the fourth and final playoff berth from the eight-team Discover Central Division; the Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning have the other postseason berths.
"Our guys were a very down group this morning, to wake up and know you're out of the [playoffs] after everything we've been through," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. "I could tell there wasn't a lot of energy in the room in the meeting this morning because of that. They're all really down that we're out. So you start the game like that, you're down 3-1, then we fought back … We had a really good second period, and we had enough scoring chances to get back in the game. [Lankinen] made some big saves and they get that fourth goal and the game's over."

The Blackhawks played with a season-high 10 rookies in their lineup.
"It wasn't a perfect game structure wise," Chicago coach Jeremy Colliton said. "A lot of back and forth and things, but it's probably what you've expected going into tonight. I thought again an opportunity for so many of our young players to be exposed to this level and playing against a really good team."
The teams play here Monday in the regular-season finale for each.
"We had a job to do tonight, come to the rink, be professionals," Stars captain Jamie Benn said. "We had two games to play. It didn't start very good for us tonight. We've got one more game here tomorrow to bring a professional effort."
DeBrincat scored on a one-timer from the left face-off circle on the power play to make it 3-1 at 18:24 of the first period. He scored his second at 16:48 of the third period for the 4-2 final after Pius Suter's shot went off Khudobin's left pad to him at the right circle.

MacKenzie Entwistle scored his first NHL goal in his fourth game when he tapped in Mike Hardman's pass across the slot at the far post to give Chicago a 1-0 lead at 6:23 of the first period.
"It's obviously a dream come true," Entwistle said. "It felt awesome. You dream about it as a kid. I woke up this morning and called my mom for Mother's Day. The one thing she said was, 'Try to get me a goal.' Mom, if you're watching, I got one."
Gurianov tied it 1-1 at 9:40 off a rebound.
Hagel's wrist shot on a breakaway hit the post, deflected into the air and into the net for a 2-1 Blackhawks lead at 10:31.
Pysyk cut it to 3-2 at 2:16 of the third period on a rebound.
"We kind of came out slow, but as the game went on, I think we did a good job of raising our intensity level," said Pysyk, who is a defenseman but played as a forward on the fourth line.
NOTES: Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen had three shots on goal and three hits in a game-high 24:35 of ice time. … DeBrincat is the seventh United States-born skater in NHL history to score at least 30 goals in two of his first four seasons. … Patrick Kane had two assists for 51 this season to surpass Phil Housley and Brian Leetch for the most 50-assist seasons by a U.S.-born player in NHL history at seven. … Blackhawks rookies have scored 41 goals this season, the most in the NHL. … Chicago played in front of fans (3,820) at home for the first time this season.